Billy Budd, Chapter 11: Zusammenfassung

Was geschieht

1. The narrator contrasts Claggart’s appearance with Billy Budd’s beauty and suggests that Billy’s looks first provoke Claggart’s hostility.
2. Claggart recognizes Billy’s goodness, envies it, and despairs of possessing such innocence himself.
3. Claggart apparently interprets Billy’s accidental soup spill as a deliberate expression of dislike.
4. Squeak carries out petty harassment for Claggart and feeds his hostility with distorted accounts and invented insults.
5. Claggart’s conscience turns supposed offenses into justifications for revenge, and the narrator suggests that the spill prompts further experiments.

In diesem chapter

Worauf Sie achten sollten

The legal comparison shows conscience defending Claggart’s desires rather than questioning them. It explains how he can make persecution seem justified to himself.

Kurze Verständnisfrage